SLIDESHOW: The American Dream prompts immigration priority shift

President Barack Obama

Just days before this nation's 57th Inauguration, President
Barack Obama is promising to make immigration reform a top agenda item of
this second term.

Recent research shows that 25 percent of this nation's now-public, once-venture-backed companies were founded by people born outside the
United States. The 2012 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, released today, shows
that migrants to the United States are more entrepreneurial than non-migrants,
and most expect to create innovative global companies.

Obama has plenty of supporters within the entrepreneurial
community, people who attribute the success of Google, YouTube, Yahoo,
Instagram and Skillshare in part to immigrant founders. Most are names you know and recognize. Read about them here.

Bloomberg

Paul Graham

In response to a Washington Post request after the 2012 election, Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham named immigration reform as his top wish for President Obama's second term. Graham first proposed the idea of a Startup Visa in 2009. It'd be the most effective way of generating more startup activity in the U.S., he wrote on his blog.

Y Combinator

Vivek Wadhwa

Vivek Wadhwa is a professor, researcher, entrepreneur and author who has focused his studies on the impact of immigration on entrepreneurship and innovation. In 2012, he published The Economist'sBook of the Year, "The Immigrant Exodus: Why America is Losing the Global Race to Capture Entrepreneurial Talent."

Photo: Paolo Vescia

Mayor Michael Bloomberg

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been quoted
as saying this nation's immigration policy is "national suicide."
Luring and keeping technology founders and workers in the future means loser
laws on immigration, he believes.

Bloomberg has made billions of dollars in commitments to
improve the city's STEM education offerings, including pledging $2B to build a Cornell
University campus for graduate-level tech programs.

The New York Daily
News quoted Bloomberg at a December 2012 "STEM in the City" summit: "I
don’t think there is anything more important Washington could do for us."

Michael Kreiger

President Obama highlighted Instagram co-founder Michael Kreiger (left), a native of Brazil, when he addressed immigration reform in last year's State of the Union address. Kreiger made millions when Instagram was sold to Facebook last year, but has been working under an H-1B visa as he awaits a green card.

Bloomberg

Susan Pearce, Elizabeth Clifford and Reena Tandon

Three university professors released a report and book in 2011 to highlight the growing influence of female immigrant entrepreneurs. "Immigration and Women: Understanding the American Experience" gives countless stories of female immigrants who have started companies, created jobs and flourished in America. The report, published by the Immigration Policy Center, calls for fewer bureaucratic hurdles to starting companies in the U.S. and clearer local, state and federal regulations.

Immigration Policy Center

Luis Arbulu

Luis Arbulu is managing director and principal of the new venture fund, Hattery, in San Francisco. The former Google engineer is also a native of Peru, and one of 16 new entrepreneurs-in-residence working to change visa laws within the federal U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services.

Hattery

Thomas Friedman

New York Times columnist and author Thomas Friedman has argued for
years that immigration reform is necessary in order for this nation to compete globally.
In more recent months, he's advocated reform as a way to restore the U.S.
economy.

"The next generation is going to need immigration of
high-I.Q. risk-takers from India, China and Latin America if the U.S. is going
to remain at the cutting edge of the Information Technology revolution and be
able to afford the government we want."

Bloomberg

Brad Feld

Brad Feld is
managing partner at the Boulder venture fund Foundry Group and
author of "Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in
Your City." He's written about immigration often on his Feld Thoughts
blog. Most recently, he detailed
the experience of a Boston immigrant and entrepreneur who was jailed for
what authorities thought was an incorrect visa.

On the various proposed reforms by both parties, he writes: "We
continue to be functioning in a delusional context."

Bloomberg

Ron Conway

Silicon Valley angel investor Ron Conwayhas
been vocal about his support for The Fairness in High Skilled Immigrants
Act, which would end caps on H-1B visas (which most immigrant entrepreneurs
use).

The man known for early bets on Google, Paypal and Ask
Jeeves, believes immigration law could be the biggest hold-up in spurring
innovation in the United States.